The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Our caterpillar larvae has arrived. They are growing each day and the kids are enjoying observing, documenting and learning about what is happening.

"They are getting bigger, like the poster" ~ Gwen

"It's moving!" ~ Leesy

"When are they going to turn into butterflies?" ~ Aydan

"

"It's a caterpillar" ~ Ariana

"We need to feed him leaves" ~ Ellie

 "They have food in there" ~ Bianca

It will be a butterfly after that" ~ Lulu

"Black" ~ Elise

"They grow bigger"  ~ Maya

"Caterpillars in the jar" ~ Brendyn

"They are sleeping" ~ Kjeld

"It's moving Megan!" ~ Anthony

"Because their wings are so beautiful, they love to be butterflies, they need food like dogs" ~ Kylie

To help the children understand how a caterpillars body is made we made the typical preschool caterpillar our of egg cartons.  They are actually very useful as they clearly show the kids how the body is made up of several segments.


A few weeks ago we had make a chart of living and non living things. The we went out to take pictures of living and non living things in the yard.

Friends, trees, plants, worms, flowers and snails are all living because they grow and change

Toys, rocks, wind-chimes, tables and shoes are not living as they dont change or grow.






After watching the caterpillars for a few days and noticing that they were growing bigger and bigger we began discussing what living things need to grow.
Because caterpillars need food to grow we took a closer look at leaves and how they provide nourishment to many types of bugs and animals. In a very basic manner we learned that the veins of the leaves carried water and minerals from the roots to the leaves. The kids looked for veins on other things and we found them on our arms. (So, if your child came home saying that they had blue water in their arm you will know why). We looked at photos of leaves and made our own during art time.

After making veins on their leaves used pom poms to create a caterpillar or two on each leaf. To recreate the caterpillar "munching and crunching" the leaves we used a whole punch.

We then went outside to see if we could find any caterpillars in the yard. We didn't but we did find leaves that had been "munched and crunched" by insects.

 

We also have been learning poems and doing movement activities. One of the kids favorites is the Rolley Polley Caterpillar by Hugh Hanley. The following link will take you to an audio of the rhyme. The kids love to act out the movements http://www.hughhanley.com/QTmp3/Rolley-PolleyCaterpillar%28clip%29.mp3

If you have a book, puzzle, pictures, activities that are caterpillar / butterfly related we would love it if you brought them in to share.